Archive for the ‘Dorset/Somerset’ Category

Spend a fun day at the beach whilst on a cottage holiday. Poole’s beaches have been acclaimed for their cleanliness and quality for many years. Among the best is repeated Blue Flag award winner, Sandbanks, which offers safe, clean bathing and three miles of superb sandy beach, with canoes, pedaloes and windsurfs all available for hire in season. Nearby Canford Cliffs offers a lovely, gradually shelving sandy beach backed by steep cliffs abundant with wildlife. Hamworthy Park Beach, on the northern side of Poole’s harbour, has more of a traditional seaside resort feel to it, with rows of multi-coloured beach huts and a seafront cafe.(more…)

Poole is a popular coastal town on Dorset’s stretch of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, an ideal place to visit on a cottage holiday. A lively town, whose population swells with summer visitors, it lives to the rhythm of the sea, claiming the world’s second largest natural harbour after Sydney and one of the most important yachting and maritime centres in the UK. The town has a lovely old heritage area to the north of the harbour, with narrow streets and quaint buildings constructed during the period of prosperity brought by merchant seamen in centuries past, and a modern, buzzy, harbour area which also houses the Brownsea Island nature and wildlife reserve.

On a cottage holiday, Cheddar is an ideal place to visit. Between Bath and Glastonbury, the picturesque Somerset village of Cheddar has gained fame over the years from production of the eponymously named cheese, and a stunning set of caves and fissures running into the Mendip hills known as the Cheddar Gorge. Those enjoying a holiday home stay in the Cheddar area are well placed for visiting both the attractions local to Cheddar, and those of the wider Somerset area.(more…)

On a cottage holiday, a visit to Minehead is essential. Minehead is one of Somerset’s premier coastal resorts, and a popular seaside town, with a wide, sandy, family-friendly beach. Butlin’s Somerwest World on the seafront offers a host of rides and family entertainment, whilst in town Aquasplash will keep children occupied on the days when the sun isn’t shining. Once the mainstay of the town’s economy, many of the fishing boats which dot the shoreline are now employed offering recreational boat trips to visitors. Another mode of transport to be enjoyed is a trip on the West Somerset Railway, a must for visitors keen to experience the nostalgia of a ride on an authentic stream train, whilst gaining a glimpse of some of the county’s most beautiful countryside at the same time, with Exmoor, the Quantock hills and the coastal towns and resorts along the Bristol Channel.(more…)

On a cottage holiday, the city of Bath is well worth a visit. UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site Bath is one of Somerset’s most visited attractions with a wealth of things to see, do and experience, all amid the inspiring architecture of one of the very finest Georgian towns in the country, where there are in excess of a mind-blowing 5,000 listed buildings. (more…)